A nanosecond response waveguide electro-optic (EO) switch based on ultraviolet (UV) sensitive polymers of Norland optical adhesive (NOA73) and Dispersed Red 1 (DR1) doped SU-8 (DR1/SU-8) is designed and fabr...A nanosecond response waveguide electro-optic (EO) switch based on ultraviolet (UV) sensitive polymers of Norland optical adhesive (NOA73) and Dispersed Red 1 (DR1) doped SU-8 (DR1/SU-8) is designed and fabricated. The absorption properties, refractive indexes, and surface morphologies of NOA73 film are characterized. The single-mode transmission condition is computed by the effective index method, and the percentage of optical field distributed in EO layer is optimized to be 93.78 %. By means of spin-coating, thermal evaporation, photolithography, and inductively coupled plasma etching, a Mach-Zehnder inverted-rib waveguide EO switch with micro-strip line electrode is fabricated on a silicon substrate. Scanning electron microscope characterization proves the physic-chemical compatibility between NOA73 cladding and DR1/SU-8 core material. The optical transmission loss of the fabricated switch is measured to be 2.5 dB/cm. The rise time and fall time of switching are 3.199 ns and 2.559 ns, respectively. These results indicate that the inverted-rib wave- guide based on UV-curable polymers can effectively reduce the optical transmission loss and improve the time response performance of an EO switch.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61177027,61107019,61205032,and 61261130586)
文摘A nanosecond response waveguide electro-optic (EO) switch based on ultraviolet (UV) sensitive polymers of Norland optical adhesive (NOA73) and Dispersed Red 1 (DR1) doped SU-8 (DR1/SU-8) is designed and fabricated. The absorption properties, refractive indexes, and surface morphologies of NOA73 film are characterized. The single-mode transmission condition is computed by the effective index method, and the percentage of optical field distributed in EO layer is optimized to be 93.78 %. By means of spin-coating, thermal evaporation, photolithography, and inductively coupled plasma etching, a Mach-Zehnder inverted-rib waveguide EO switch with micro-strip line electrode is fabricated on a silicon substrate. Scanning electron microscope characterization proves the physic-chemical compatibility between NOA73 cladding and DR1/SU-8 core material. The optical transmission loss of the fabricated switch is measured to be 2.5 dB/cm. The rise time and fall time of switching are 3.199 ns and 2.559 ns, respectively. These results indicate that the inverted-rib wave- guide based on UV-curable polymers can effectively reduce the optical transmission loss and improve the time response performance of an EO switch.